Tag Archives: maverick sabre

Stunning acoustic performance from Aruba Red, of her track, ‘We’re Gonna Make It’. If you’ve been in attenedence at one of Maverick Sabre’s Lonely Are The Brave Tour dates, then you’ll have already seen her perform, and judging by Twitter reactions, the shows have been going down very, very well. Looking forward to the Camden Roundhouse show on Saturday – there’ll be a review of the show, and possibly an interview with a support act too. (Look at this post, and you’ll get the idea of who it is…)

Right, about half an hour ago, I brought you a track from Riz MC, featruring Plan B, and Aruba Red. Now, enjoy some solo work from the very talented female vocalist.

Released earlier today, it contains some very unique sounds, down to the supreme production and writing from Aruba Red herself, with Adam Nicholas and Camilo Tirado. But also showcasing the brilliant voice she has to offer. This track, ‘Never Die’ will be availbale for a free download on this coming Monday – so watch out for that!

Also, if you’re off to see Maverick Sabre, you will likely see her supporting across the UK!

Sitting at number 2 in the midweek album charts, Maverick Sabre’s debut album, ‘Lonely Are The Brave’, showcases the pure talents of the Hackney born singer/songwriter. An album mixed with old and new Maverick Sabre tracks, some even written when he was as young as 15.

I’d thought I’d draw off a couple of big name reviews of this album. Firstly, NME. Giving it a 5/10, they mention about how ‘his label’ push the “male Amy Winehouse” tag – at one point saying about ‘No One’ – “you can almost smell the beehive lacquer”, but then how the label ignores the Plan B likeness. To argue against that, I’d say let him be his own artist. He’s unique. End of.

Q Magazine, gave a fairer review, I guess. Despite giving it a 2/5, they did give it a decent write up. And although they thought it was ‘too one-paced’, they also said ‘he sounds like a force to be reckoned with’. They made a point about how ‘Let Me Go’ is the stand out track, and that it puts a downer on the rest of the album. I can actually see where they’re coming from there. I wouldn’t say I fully agree, but ‘Let Me Go’ does differ from the rest of the album. I wouldn’t say it took away from it though.

Right, I’ll get on with it now.

It kicks off with Mav’s second single in the build up to the album release of this album, ‘I Need’. There are very few adjectives that could describe this track other than beautiful, captivating, and just stunning. A track he describes as his ‘simplest tune’, is just the perfect way to start the album. It was written in ‘different stages’, but began when he was just 16, when he was in Ireland. Again, can’t describe how much this song stands out amongst the whole of UK music.

Moving on to a slightly different direction, in the Isaac Hayes sampling track, ‘Let Me Go’ – the track which effectively began the fairly quick rise for Maverick Sabre, gaining much acclaim, particularly from Radio 1 and Chris Moyles’ team. Until watching the track by track interview, I had made the mistake that seemingly a lot of people had. In that ‘Let Me Go’ isn’t about being in an unhealthy relationship. It’s actually about Mav’s addiction to whiskey. (Listen to the lyrics, and it does make sense!)

‘Open My Eyes’ comes up next. Originally titled ‘Follow’, Mav says it’s a portrayal of the fake mentality that exists, and the short term attention it can bring. It’s the first track on ‘Lonely Are The Brave’ that won’t be widely known, so whichever track it was, had to be a stand out track. And ‘Open Your Eyes’ is definitely that.

‘Memories’ was first featured on Maverick Sabre’s, ‘The Travelling Man’ mixtape, and it sounds just as strong on his debut album, as it did back in 2010. Detailing his memories from when he moved over to Ireland, and his growing up over there, and other small things – ‘little bits and bobs’ as Mav calls them.

Our ears are then treated to ‘Cold Game’. Effectively a letter to one of Mav’s ex-girlfriend, after getting into a few fights in just the one night. The first verse is about what his life was like at the time, second verse about surviving all the fights, then the third one looks into the future, and whether he’s taken it too far this one time, and if he’ll survive it. Mav even described it as a slap to the face for him.

Next up, is the most recent single, ‘No One’. Again, another stand out track, that Mav describes as ‘another simple love tune’. Even if it is simple, don’t think anyone cares, because I’d say they’re his best.

‘These Days’ follows. A song based on the ‘loneliness of society’ and the loss of loss of loyalty. It’s a track that Q Magazine pulled out as one of their favourites from the album as well – and for good reasoning.

Then comes ‘Sometimes’. Originally on ‘The Travelling Man’ mixtape featuring Wretch 32, it’s used as a sort of introduction to Maverick Sabre. Written when he was just 15, ‘Sometimes’ has developed from a hip-hop/rap song into it being formed around his guitar. The video for this track (below) shows old of clips of Mav back in his childhood, and recently topped over 1 million views!

Following is ‘I Used To Have It All’, which keeps the standard sky high still. It details how Mav saw the world so differently back when he was a kid. “When you’re a kid, you think you’ve got everything… The more I learnt, the more negative the world would become.” got to say, when watching the interview; you could really see how much this track meant to him, seemed so passionate about it – which will always be a good thing.

Next on the album, is one of my favourites, ‘Shooting The Stars’. It’s when you understand the full ideas and stories behind it, that you realise its brilliance. He watched a few clips on YouTube of excessive force used by the police – the shooting of a guy in America, after he was calmly restrained, and of incidents of protests over here in the UK. Also, it’s based on the way some young people’s lives can be ruined by the simplest of mistakes. ‘Shooting The Stars’ is effectively a message conveying its title – in physical and metaphorical senses.

From one of my favourites, to another. ‘I Can Never Be’, heard on Maverick Sabre’s ‘Lost Words EP’. It sees a return to the ‘basic love tunes’, the first verse was written about an ex-girlfriend of Mav, and he realised that she wanted more than what he could give. Then the second is twisted in its meaning – in that Mav describes it as ‘putting himself down’. It’s another track plenty of people can relate to, and again, contains pure, raw emotion.

Making sure the album doesn’t tail off, is ‘Running Away’. “The purest chorus that I came out with at the time.” Describes it pretty much perfect, doesn’t need much more said about it. It’s just another beautifully raw track.

The penultimate tune, is a cover of Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ – originally used for a live session for Trevor Nelson’s 1xtra show – which was just after the riots. “What’s the point of me, after the London riots… doing a song about nothing.” It again demonstrates the ‘realness’ of Maverick Sabre. True to his roots, and also realises what music should be like, and used for.

Then, finally, comes ‘I Don’t See The Sun’. Mav stated, “If I could’ve called one song on the album ‘Lonely Are The Brave’, it’d be that tune.” I think with an album title like this one, it almost makes it stronger, by not having it fully associated to one certain track. But anyway, it does ‘sum up the album’ according to Maverick Sabre – a song that took one take, and conveys the stunning vocals, lyrics, and music that Mav has delivered on this beautiful debut album.

It’s says so much about the album, that all the songs relate to Maverick Sabre personally, but can still reach out to every single one of us. An album with proper messages, to himself, and the rest of humanity. Stunning.

(I’ll just tell you while you’re here, you can listen to the mixtape in full at the bottom of the page, and download it for FREE [even though it says ‘Buy’] – should be easy to find how to)

Delilah dropped her newest project on Mistajam’s1xtra show last night. And boy is it a good’un. ‘2-4am‘ shows the pure class many have come to expect from the extremely talented singer/songwriter.

It’s incredible. Despite being classed as ‘pop’, Delilah has managed to maintain that typical mixtape feel. A sense of the underground, even a darker side in some tracks – all surrounded and enhanced by the brilliance in the production.

It kicks off with ‘Never Be Another‘ – a track produced by Balistiq, which had been released early this year (Delilah – Never Be Another | Review). A great track to start the mixtape off with, even if you’ve already heard it, because in no way has lost that fresh first listen feeling.

Then second track, which also had already been released, but again, a lesser known one. ‘Love You So‘ was Delilah’s next single, after the success of ‘Go‘. And it featured a brilliant remix from Joe Goddard – of Hot Chip and The 2 Bears. It was so good, Delilah placed it in her new mixtape.

After the two tracks many people will have heard, Delilah throws in a beaut, ‘The Gospel‘. Possibly my favourite track on the whole mixtape.

‘Closer‘ follows. And continues where the last track left off. Delilah’s voice has something purely unique about it – perfectly shown in tracks like ‘Closer‘ – and if you can’t love the uniqueness, you should be able to at least appreciate it.

Next up is ‘Love Drug‘. Well, yeah, I’m going to start running out of positives soon. Also looks like there will be no negatives. Especially judging by the lack of them on Jam’s1xtra show last night. He couldn’t find one down-beat comment sent in. Which in this day and age, is properly surprising!

‘Lay By‘ follows. It was first played on Mistajam’s show almost exactly a year ago. So you’d be forgiven for thinking it may be a weaker track, as it’s surrounded all these new ones. I mean, you shouldn’t be forgiven really. Because ‘Lay By‘ is such a strong track. Despite being another strong track, it was heard a while back, so it does show the pure consistency Delilah has. Great track, after great track, after great track.

And surprisingly, another great track follows ‘Lay By‘. ‘Wish I Had Your Life‘ further showcases Delilah’s exceptionally talented vocals. Just pure uniqueness pouring out of this mixtape’s track-listing!

And unfortunately, this next track is the end to this project. By, it’s not all sadness here, as ‘21‘ is just as brilliant as the previous 7 tracks. Another contender for my favourite track off ‘2-4am‘. Also, you can always just replay the mixtape? Seems to work well.

If you couldn’t tell from my slightly ‘over-the-top’ love for ‘2-4am‘, then I’ll say it now. This mixtape showcases some of the best music the UK has to offer right now! Sublime vocals, singing out the perfectly crafted lyrics, along side the immensely tight production. Yes, I love it.

In these first couple weeks of February, we really are greeted with brilliant, new, exciting music. Firstly, this Delilah mixtape, ‘2-4am‘, then over the weekend, Maverick Sabre’s debut album, ‘Lonely Are The Brave‘ is out, then the weekend after, BRITS Critics Choice Award winner, Emeli Sande releases her hotly anticipated debut LP – ‘Our Version Of Events‘.

I hope for the sake of ‘pop’, that Delilah is able to take it in her own way.

So, yesterday, I brought you the TC remix of Maverick Sabre’s upcoming single, ‘No One’. But a few hours ago, Mav posted a sample of all of the remixes (above), and it’s fair to say, each one sounds like they’ve outdone themselves.

Particually enjoying the New Machines one. But that was fairly expected.

Watch out for the 5th feb, when ‘No One’ comes out, and if and when some of these are dropped in full!

This way too released earlier, Maverick Sabre’s brilliant new video, to his upcoming single, ‘No One’ – in the build up to the release of his hotly anticipated debut album, ‘Lonely Are The Brave’, which I can’t wait to get my hands on.

Sit back and enjoy the song and video, and think to yourself… Has Maverick Sabre ever done a weak song. No, can’t see it happening!

Love this song, love this video… and I know I’ll love the album – out 6th Feb!

The iTunes bundle includes remixes from TC, Stinkahbell, Rusko, Wideboys & New Machines. (can’t wait to hear that New Machines remix, by the way!)